Warriors Level Up, Finish No. 3 in the Nation

By Francisco Claudio

 

The Westcliff Surf team competed in the final heat of the 2023 NSSA Nationals at Salt Creek Beach on Sunday afternoon.

 

And although the Warriors didn't take the first-place trophy, there was growth and improvement compared to last year.

 

Westcliff can proudly say that their surf team is the No. 3 in the nation as they moved up two spots from last year's results.

 

Head Coach Kyle Rouse shared his feelings after the competition: "Earning top five in the country last year and then third this year in our second year of competing is very remarkable. It's pretty impressive and just shows how fortunate we are with the group that we brought in. 

 

"They just want to win."

 

The Warriors had four athletes competing in the final whereas last year that number was two. 

 

The men went first with Jordy Collins and Blaze Roche trying to lead the way in a tight battle where every run was important.

 

But the waves and conditions during their heat weren't helping anyone as they struggled to get more than two decent runs in the 24 minutes of the allotted time. 

 

Collins finished with a combined score of (15.04) while Roche received (11.20).

 

Collins's score was good for second place and Roche took fifth place in the final heat.

 

The women were faced with the same conditions and often found themselves waiting for several minutes in order to get a decent wave they could ride.

 

Silke Martinez earned a combined score of (7.43) and Sofia Freyre received a (5.04).

 

The Warriors missed second place by only a few points and first place was within their sights too.

 

But Westcliff can be proud that they took more steps toward their goal of being No. 1 in the nation and that they have leveled up with the future looking bright on this talented team next year. 

 

"All of them said already, we'll be No. 1," Rouse said. "We've moved up two slots since last year, time to move up two more slots for next year. And the cool thing is nobody is graduating, so it'll be fun to see what they do because the same crew will be back.

 

"It'll be fun to see what they can do because they'll have already been here and understand what it takes to win."

 

It's exciting to know that this team was able to level up this much in two years and as we look towards the third year of competition now, the same core that led the way to the No. 3 in the nation, will be back to lead the way next summer.

 

The only member who is graduating and the captain of the team, Robbie Crist caught up with us after the event: "This last year has been fantastic. I never thought a team like this would ever happen within a year, and we started this back in 2019 and we weren't able to go further because of the pandemic. And then we came back in 2021 and placed fifth in the nation, never thought with such a small team that would happen.

 

"Now coming out this year we have fantastic surfers. Jordy coming in first place and Silke coming in first place in all these events and becoming state champions was the coolest thing that I could be a part of."

 

There's high praise for this team and everyone seems to share the same vision and understand the potential that they have next season after soaking in all this valuable experience.

 

It's a tight-knit team that genuinely cares for one another and at the end of the day just enjoys being able to catch some waves.

 

"I think it's team commodore, everyone loves each other," Crist said. "Next season we're going to go all out and I'll be back for every competition that we go to and cheer for my friends, my family, and my team." 

 

Finalist Roche spoke to us about this season and the way he had to battle to even be able to participate in the event: "I basically came out the ditch because I surfed in none of the contests this year except for this one because my grades weren't all too well last year. Once I did that pretty stoked to finish out the quarter with good grades that definitely helped me have confidence in this contest and everything that went with it."

 

Roche placed first place in the quarterfinal heat that took place on Friday which helped him earn a spot in the championship round.

 

"Just stoked to have a good season and for Westcliff themselves, they ran the states competition and it was super cool to watch which gave me a lot of motivation to surf this comp even better," Roche said.

 

Westcliff Athletics experienced lots of success in the 2022-23 year, and many programs were just within reach of grabbing their own first-place trophy.

 

Westcliff Surf will be back and they will level up again just as they have every year with their eyes on being the best surf team in the nation in 2024.